The Independent View: Public Citizen v. Federal Election Commission

In direct contrast to Citizens United v. FEC and McCutcheon v. FEC, Public Citizen just filed a lawsuit "Public Citizen v. FEC" that will bolster democracy, not subvert it.

Last week, Public Citizen filed a lawsuit against the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

Unlike Citizens United and McCutcheon, the new lawsuit is not a maneuver to hand democracy over to billionaires and Big Business.

The lawsuit is about making sure the FEC does its job and enforces campaign finance laws, those the Supreme Court hasn’t yet dismantled, anyway.

The lawsuit demands that the FEC take action against Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies (Crossroads GPS), a 501(c)(4) nonprofit corporation that works in conjunction with American Crossroads. As a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, Crossroads GPS's primary purpose is the advancement of social welfare including public policy advocacy, although it is permitted to engage in political spending as well. Crossroads GPS is required to report what it spends, but it is not required to publicly disclose any donor information.

This is the “dark money” Super PAC founded by Republican operative Karl Rove that has spent millions pushing corporate-friendly candidates in the wake of Citizens United.

Amazingly, the FEC has permitted Crossroads GPS to promote and attack candidates without disclosing the moneyed interests behind its schemes.

What does that mean?

It means that Crossroads GPS is exploiting protections intended for supporters of legitimate social welfare groups, including Public Citizen, and raising untold millions from undisclosed plutocrats that it turns around and spends distorting our democracy.

It means that as long as the FEC indulges this sham, Crossroads GPS and similar outfits can continue functioning as conduits for essentially unlimited secret money from the wealthiest individuals and largest corporations.

Crossroads GPS is a political committee, not a social welfare organization.

A political committee is legally defined as any group that receives or spends more than $1,000 during a calendar year to influence elections and whose major purpose is to support or oppose the election of federal candidates.

So let’s look at just a few facts about Crossroads GPS:

The FEC’s own legal team determined that Crossroads GPS spent $20.8 million on federal campaign activity between June and December 2010, which was more than half of what the organization reported spending on everything it did that entire year. Karl Rove himself boasted on FOX News that Crossroads GPS is an outlet for anyone who has maxed out on lawful contributions to Republican political committees.

In the 2010 and 2012 elections combined, Crossroads GPS spent more than any other outside group, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. It even outspent all but two super PACs, one of those was its own partner, American Crossroads. The law requires political committees to disclose their donors and expenditures.

We the People are entitled to know who is spending what in an attempt to bury the principle of “one person, one vote” under an avalanche of cash.

Working with allied watchdog groups, Public Citizen filed a complaint with the FEC back in 2010 about the bogus claim by Crossroads GPS that it is not a political committee.

In response to the complaint, the FEC’s lawyers found substantial evidence that Crossroads GPS is a political committee.

And half of the FEC’s six commissioners agreed. But partisan deadlock, which has hamstrung the agency for many years now, resulted in the complaint being dismissed in December.

So they are suing to have the dismissal overturned.